


The Devil in the Details

by FaintlyMacabre



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Sexual Tension, Stripping, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 00:48:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18728296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaintlyMacabre/pseuds/FaintlyMacabre
Summary: "Well, we need to talk, don't we? 'Cause you boys, you've added quite a bit to your death count, haven't you?"The conversation between Taako and Kravitz, begun in the Eleventh Hour epilogue and referenced in Lunar Interlude IV: The Calm Before the Storm.And then, like, things get a little steamy, I guess?





	The Devil in the Details

Taako pushed through the door, dropping his keys on the entryway table and shrugging off the Cloak of the Manta Ray. "Someday you'll be useful, friend," he told it, hanging it on the coatrack. He hadn't quite gotten the sentence out before he realized he wasn't alone, and the intruder? guest? was far too still and quiet to be either one of his roommates. In the dimness of the room, he could see a tall, handsome man with excellent posture sitting on the couch, apparently waiting for him. His locs were tied back from his face and he was wearing a suit, as though he were here for a formal dinner instead of... a reaping, or whatever his errand was.

 Taako didn't move, tried not to let on that he'd been startled or that he was in any way troubled by the presence of the man(?) who'd tried to kill him just weeks ago. After a moment, Kravitz stood.

 "Well," he said, "we need to talk, don't we? 'Cause you boys, you've added quite a bit to your death count, haven't you?"

 Taako couldn't refute it. "That one's on me."

 Kravitz laughed briefly, seeming to surprise himself as well as Taako. "I appreciate your being so... forthcoming, but I think we both know that wasn't all you."

 "You're right, it was Magnus's fault." This time, Taako could see him bite back a smile as he turned his face away. A feeling of hope bloomed cautiously in his stomach. Maybe this wasn't it.

 "So, I've been informed of sort of the broad strokes of today's situation," Kravitz said.

 _That's right_ , Taako thought. _That was just today._ From the Bureau's perspective, the three of them had spent more time picking outfits than on assignment. He blinked and saw Kravitz staring at him. "Hmm?"

 "I said, could you tell me more about it?" Kravitz said. "I know there was a temporal disturbance that, I suppose, allowed you to die as many times as you did today, and that it's been going on for quite a while—"

 "Hey, yeah," said Taako, fully snapping out of it. "That town all died every hour on the hour for, like, years, how come you never got involved until now?"

 Kravitz took a breath, sighed. "Can we sit?"

 "What, you wanna have a chat here and wait for the other two to come home or get up for a drink of water and flip their shit?" Taako said, feeling emboldened. "Are you just stalling me until you can grab us all at the same time?"

 "I'm here to talk," Kravitz said. "No scythe, no cloak. I... just want to have a discussion. I thought of the three of you, you'd be the most receptive."

 "Oh yeah? How so?" Taako took a step forward, intending to intimidate, but as he did he remembered just how fucking tall Kravitz was, and that now he had to tilt his head up just a bit more to hold his gaze. _Damn it._

 "Magnus seems more the rush first, ask questions later type," Kravitz was saying, "and I'm not sure Merle would listen to anything I had to say."

 "Right, because of the whole arm thing. Yeah, Merle's a petty guy."

 Kravitz grimaced. "Could we talk somewhere they're not likely to walk in."

  _No fucking way._ Taako took a moment to think about it. _If he'd wanted to take my soul, he could have done it already. I could get us out of this— at the very least, I could get_ me _out of this. If I'm careful._

 "Sure, I can give you the deets," he said, motioning in the direction of his room. "But I'm keeping my umbrella."

 

* * *

 

Kravitz let Taako lead him down a short hallway to a door; Taako walked backwards the whole time, his umbrella clutched tight in his hand. The reaper fought the urge to sigh. He could understand Taako's mistrust, but he couldn't help being annoyed by it. If he were going to make any false moves, he could have done it as soon as Taako walked in. But maybe it had been so long since he had been concerned with his own mortality that he was being unfair in his expectations. A little patience, usually reserved for inexorable pace of time in his line of work, would serve him well.

 Taako backed into a door and fumbled for the knob without taking his eyes off Kravitz. For several seconds, he felt up the wrong side of the door, and Kravitz finally allowed himself a sigh and reached for the doorknob. "Ah, ah, ah!" Taako said, bringing up the umbrella, and Kravitz backed away, almost managing not to roll his eyes. At least his attempt seemed to jog Taako's memory, because he reached back and turned the knob successfully this time as he shouldered open the door.

 A lamp turned on at a snap of Taako’s fingers and Kravitz saw a bedroom strewn with clothing. A rug sat in the middle of the floor and the only furniture was a wardrobe, a nightstand and a bed. Kravitz hesitated in the doorway.

 "What, I don't have guests a lot." Taako was looking at the clothes on the floor when Kravitz turned to look at him, but Kravitz was more concerned with seating arrangements. The bed wouldn't do, but sitting on the floor seemed silly. He settled for leaning against the wall.

 "Sit, my man," Taako said, gesturing toward the bed. "You're one short for Good Cop, Bad Cop, and anyway I don't have the energy for an interrogation." Kravitz nodded and sat gingerly at the foot of the bed. Taako followed, throwing himself down onto the pillows at the head. "So," he said from his half-propped position, "what do you want to know?"

 "What happened in Refuge?"

 

* * *

 

"What didn't happen in Refuge?" Taako lounged back against the headboard. On the off chance he was going to die, he could at least get comfy. "One o'clock, I guess."

 "What happened with you, today?" Kravitz said.

 "Robbed a bank, met a goddess, reunited a family, died a whole bunch—you know, the ushe."

 "That's—" Kravitz blinked. "That's a lot."

 Taako took a perverse satisfaction in flooring a reaper, and was Kravitz _floored_. He just sat there for a moment, blazer unbuttoned, mouth hanging slightly open, eyes blinking as though trying to clear. He seemed to be looking past Taako, trying to visualize the scene that brought about the events Taako'd mentioned, or maybe just trying to formulate his next question.

 "You want me to string those together for you, bubbeleh?"

 Kravitz's eyes resumed their focus on Taako. "That's why I'm here."

 "Sure thing." Taako sat up, preparing to monologue. "Now, I know this all happened today, but my order of events is a little fuzzy, on account of reliving the same hour over and over again and saving a whole town and stuff. I'm not trying to gloss or be modest, but I might have to double back for some details, cool?"

 Kravitz nodded. "Let's hear it."

 

* * *

 

Kravitz had been around a long time, long enough that he'd stopped keeping count, and he'd seen a lot, but he wasn't entirely prepared for the story Taako told him. The overview he'd gotten from the Raven Queen wasn't much more extensive than he'd started to tell Taako. Maybe he should have figured that things tend to get a little unusual around these three, but he couldn't have guessed the scope.

 If the full explanation Taako gave him was true (and he was pretty sure it was; there were a few times when Taako talked himself up and his voice changed that Kravitz figured were embellishment, but otherwise?), they _had_ robbed a bank (of some jewels they couldn't keep and a much more valuable journal), and met a goddess (whom Kravitz had met before, once; she seemed nice), and reunited a family (of purple worms, not what he'd been expecting). And, of course, died a whole bunch. And more than that, even; they'd specifically gotten blown up more than once, been arrested, had a mad chase through an abandoned mine, and reversed a temporal anomaly, watching a whole town age seven years in a few minutes. He had to admit that the full list wouldn’t have sounded as catchy as the sound bites Taako had first given him, but. _Wow._

 

* * *

 

Taako was exhausted, and in the abstract, hadn't been looking forward to rehashing his and the team's day, again. Shit, he was still exhausted from telling the director. But as it turned out, he had a good audience. Kravitz sat still and listened, his eyes never leaving Taako, gasping at all the right moments (though Taako was not sure he needed to breathe), and Taako found himself getting into it.

 "I didn't even tell you the craziest part," he said.

 "Crazier than—"

 "I could have changed the past."

 Kravitz leaned farther forward, just a little. "What do you mean?"

 He hadn't been planning on talking about this; he hadn't told Magnus, Merle, or the Director in any great detail, and he figured it wasn't anyone's business what the Chalice had shown him. For a second, he found himself worrying that this would put a black mark on his name with Kravitz. _Why would I care about that?_ he thought, breaking eye contact. _I wouldn't. I don't_. But he still felt apprehensive.

 "Ah, I think that's a tale for next time, my dude," he said, trying to look careless and distracted rather than disturbed. He didn't want to sit still anymore; the room felt too warm and his clothes too constricting. An idea occurred to him and he fought back a smile. It would be fun and… just a _little_ bit wicked, and it would kill two or three birds with one shiny stone.

 

* * *

 

Kravitz didn't know Taako terribly well yet, but from their relatively brief interactions, he didn't seem the type to get shy or play down his accomplishments. Surely, not changing the past when given the opportunity was the right thing to do, something that might have sorely tested his will and his moral fiber, but Taako clammed up as soon as he'd mentioned it. _Maybe he's getting tired, it's probably quite late and it's been a long day, to say the least._

 "You know," Taako said, standing up, "one thing I don't quite get. We'd died a lot, right, by the time you came to collect before?"

 "Yes, quite a bit," Kravitz said, thinking that perhaps he should stand up too, that this was Taako's way of kicking him out. But no, Taako was heading to the wardrobe, not the door. _And besides_ , Kravitz thought, _if he were kicking me out, he'd almost certainly just say so._

 "And you said we'd never checked into the astral plane," Taako said, looking at him in the mirror on the wardrobe door. He nodded in response, and Taako opened the door, revealing a mostly empty interior with a few garments on hooks and more puddled on the floor. Kravitz smirked a little to himself, thinking _That seems about right._

 "So here's a town full of people— okay, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere—" Taako picked through a couple of the garments, examining and then rejecting them and moving on— "but still, a whole town, where everyone dies every hour on the hour for seven years—" he seemed to be fiddling with his shirt— "and from Avi's perspective, we were only in there for forty-five minutes, and we'd been in there for hours, so even more than that— how did you—"

 But that was all Kravitz heard, because at that moment Taako shucked off his shirt and dropped it to the floor.

 

* * *

 

"—not have this job already? I mean we are talking years and years, and years?” Taako paused a moment, as though in thought, before hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his skirt before removing it as quickly and mock-casually as he had the shirt. “I'm not gonna do the math here, but like—" He spun to face Kravitz while sliding his arms into the sleeves of the tunic; Kravitz didn't seem to be breathing, but that could be unrelated— "that's _so long_ , if you could somehow record the passage of time from inside the bubble without resetting— ten plus hours in forty-five minutes? Holy shit."

 

* * *

 

 _Well, shit_. Taako’s arms and back somehow caught the light as he moved to sweep his hair up onto his head and shift his weight to one side and then the other as though in contemplation. He’d still been wearing his skirt when the shirt came off, and the movement of his hips swung the light fabric against and away from him, making the hem flutter up in a motion Kravitz found himself tracking too closely.

 When Taako removed the skirt with as little ceremony as he had the shirt and kicked it away from his feet, Kravitz's mouth went completely dry. _Don't look don't look don't look_ but all he could do was look, stare, unblinking, at Taako's lithe thighs and compact ass barely covered in the tiniest shorts he'd ever seen. He was reeling, half of him panicking and ready to make a quick exit while the other half had decided this is where he lived now, the foot of this bed in this room in this moment.

 

* * *

  

Taako brought his arms up to bring the tunic down over his head and grinned into the fabric for just a moment. His old M.O. had worked again: if you feel uncomfortable, make someone else more uncomfortable. Kravitz looked— well, he'd never thought Death could look so uncomfortable and at the same time so hungry. It wasn’t long ago he’d been threatening to tentacle this guy’s dick while said guy tried to kill him and his friends. He couldn’t figure out whether this was turning the tables or just the next logical step. _Whatever,_ _I know exactly who I’m fucking with, and right now I’m winning._ He pulled the front of the tunic tighter against his chest than was absolutely necessary; the fabric was sheer but soft, as though it had been thinned out lovingly through years of wear. Maybe it had, but he'd found it like that.  _Gotta get more clothes made out of this stuff._  

 A shiver threatened to surface and he shoved it back down. He was the one in charge of the situation and he was going to stay that way. But it was heady stuff, the way Kravitz's face tensed in want, the way his arms flexed as he pressed his hands into the bed. He knew what he looked like, but did Kravitz know what  _he_  looked like? Somehow even more stupid gorgeous when needy and keeping himself in check.  _Wonder how long it's been for him..._

 Taako didn't have a plan here, per se; pretty much this was the plan. Get mostly naked, unnerve a cute guy. Done and done. Also, put on pajamas, get comfy: done. Should there be like, a step four?  _Hmmmm._

  Finally, Kravitz met his gaze with a forced insistence, rather than the natural, conversational eye contact they'd maintained before. It was too good not to torture him for just a little longer. "Well?"

 

* * *

 

Kravitz was cornered. _"Well" what?_ _Is he asking how he looks?_ But he discarded the thought as soon as it came to him. Probably not, dangerous to assume. He thought back to before his ears had completely shut down at the sight of this unforgivably attractive person undressing in front of him without warning. But no, his memory had quit on him too. He gave up. "Sorry?"

 Taako's grin widened and he glanced down at himself. Kravitz followed his gaze before getting ahold of hims— coming back to— _why_ did every way he thought of this sound suggestive? He managed to look down at his sleeve and picked a bit of nonexistent lint off of it.

 "How did you not already have this job?" Taako said. "To reap Refuge." Kravitz cleared his throat, relieved to be back on more solid ground. Shop talk, he could do.

 "Can't say for sure, but there are certainly a few possibilities. First off, I'm not the Raven Queen's only emissary; there are plenty of jobs that never make it to me. That is, if this was ever a job— in a closed system like the one you saw today, the rules are different, and as this was a special case, no protocol is going to be exactly right for dealing with it. Perhaps one of my colleagues had tried to get in, and failed. Or they successfully entered the town, but the reset happened faster than they could escort any of the souls therein. Or they managed to retrieve at least one of the souls, but when the town reset at 11, you said it was? That soul vanished from the astral plane and reappeared in its body, in Refuge. Not to mention, the Raven Queen is quite close with the goddess you met, Istus. It's possible that their correspondence, or a troubling lack thereof, led her to adopt methods that she felt could not or should not involve her emissaries. Any of these could be the case, or more than one, or a variation, or frankly something I haven't even thought of." Kravitz's mind was working again and he breathed a sigh of relief.

 That relief left him when he looked back up to see Taako standing in front of him, much closer than people normally wanted to get. The fabric of his tunic was fairly sheer, and Kravitz could see the lines of his chest and abdomen as well as _dear gods_ the _absolute_ tiniest shorts he’d ever seen. Kravitz swallowed, his mouth having gone dry, and craning his neck to look at Taako's face, found him looking off to the side, as if lost in thought. _Is he doing this by accident?_ Kravitz wondered. _He can't be, no one could be that oblivious..._ But he couldn't be sure.

 What would he do if Taako leaned down right now and kissed him? If Taako placed a hand over the middle of his chest, and pushed him back onto the bed, and climbed on top of him... A rare heat started in his stomach, spread lower. He tried to ignore it even as mental images of Taako straddling him, grinding on him, kissing down his neck flooded his mind. He felt his body responding in a way he couldn't remember experiencing since... before his death, probably, and dug the heels of his hands into his legs to try to distract from the sensation or the thoughts prompting it. Perhaps because the feeling was so unfamiliar, his efforts were entirely ineffective. Taako was actually standing too close for Kravitz to cross his legs without kicking him, so he just prayed to whoever might be listening that Taako wouldn't look down at him just then.

 He thought he might owe some anonymous god a tribute when Taako stepped away, but then he sprawled on the bed, just a little closer than he'd been before. He was lying on his side, head resting on one hand while the other traced shapes in the bedspread between them. Kravitz crossed his legs in a way he hoped looked nonchalant. The hem of Taako's tunic rode higher on his thigh in this position, and Kravitz forced himself to hold his gaze. Taako still hadn't spoken since he’d repeated his question. In a flash of inspiration, Kravitz turned the conversation back on him. "Does that answer your question?" Hardly the stuff of genius, but he felt gratified, proud, even, to have managed to continue the conversation despite these distractions. He was going to come out on top here.

 Having thought this, he inwardly groaned at himself.

 

* * *

 

Taako studied Kravitz's face. He couldn't tell exactly what the man was thinking, but something was going on under the surface. Was he into this? _Obviously he's into it_ , Taako scoffed to himself. The question was, did he want to be into it? If not, _why not?_ There was of course the whole thing in the lab where he tried to kill them, but like, almost all their friends had tried to kill them at some point, couldn't he just get over that?

 Kravitz's question halted that train of thought. "I guess," he said. "But... what's going to happen to them now?" _Or us?_  he didn't dare say. 

 "Well, your account of your experience in Refuge will help decide that," Kravitz said. "Of course, it's not my decision, and it will require a lot of paperwork—"

 "Paperwork?" Taako squeaked. This was easily the funniest thing he'd heard all day, and he'd said some funny shit today. _The Grim Reaper does paperwork_. He rolled onto his back with the force of his own laughter, shaking and holding his stomach. "You— ha ha!— have to do— _paperwork?!_ "

 "Of course," Kravitz said, sounding serious. "It's terribly important business, death."

 Now he was just doing it on purpose; he had to be. Taako howled. When he finally got himself under control, wiping his eyes and rolling back onto his side, Kravitz was smiling uncertainly.

 "Oh, my man," Taako said, "you just made my whole fuckin' day! Death does paperwork! I can't— wow. I mean, I died like, what, seven, eight times today? But no paperwork for me! This really is a cushy gig."

 Kravitz still looked uncomfortable. _Does he think I’m making fun of him, or something? I mean, I kind of am, but…_ Taako realized his tunic had hiked up even higher while he was laughing. That really was unintentional. He thought about leaving it, but smoothed it down. Controlling the situation was key; everything was a calculation. He looked up at Kravitz again. _Damn, he is gorgeous_. He just lived in that space for a moment; if he died now, he could at least go looking at something pretty.

 "I interrupted," he said at last. "You were answering my question?"

 "Right, paperwork," Kravitz said, smiling and lowering his eyes. Taako snorted. "Anyway, I can't guarantee any specific conclusion, but your account will be instrumental in determining next steps and the eventual fate of Refuge."

 "Shit, dude… That's— that's a lot." Taako rolled onto his back again, this time to create space. He was too overwhelmed to realize he was echoing Kravitz’s earlier statement as he lost his grip on the topic at hand.

 "But..." Kravitz sounded puzzled. "You and your friends just saved this town, that's the hard part over. What—"

 "Yeah, but do you understand how much I _talk_?" Taako said. "I could have said something really dumb that I didn't think was important, and now poof! No more town!"

 "Taako, I've been doing this for a while, and no part of what you told me stood out as something that could condemn the town on its own."

 "'On its own?'" Taako covered his eyes with one hand. "See, this? _This_ is what I'm talking about. Took the town out of its loop just to drop it whole cloth into the astral plane. Not that I haven't gotten maybe a little careless before, but I was really trying to fix shit here! Nope. I can't do it."

 "Taako." A cool hand on the back of his and he just about managed not to jump. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you're that important."

 

* * *

 

Taako didn't move or speak for a second, and Kravitz got nervous. _Shouldn't have just touched him like that, with no warning or permission._ He started to pull his hand away, but Taako grabbed it, so fast he didn't quite realize it was happening until it had. He wasn't holding his hand tight, but Kravitz instantly stilled, not sure what was going on. Taako was looking at him strangely, like maybe he was going to tell him off, or maybe he'd just break into a grin and say something flip. Kravitz waited. It was something he was good at.

 "Um," Taako said, finally. "Thanks, man."

 Kravitz felt his mouth go dry again. He opened it, closed it, and finally just nodded. Taako looked at their hands and let go at last, quickly but not... abrupt, not meant to sting, or at least that's how it seemed to Kravitz. He wanted to say something, but what, he'd no idea. He was saved by a familiar chime that seemed to radiate from his spine: work call.

 

* * *

 

Kravitz suddenly straightened up and stood. Taako sat up instinctively, not quite sure what had happened. "That's my cue to leave," Kravitz said. "I'm still on call, as it were— no rest for the... er..." Taako rolled his eyes. _What a fucking dweeb. He's lucky he's cute._

 "You can just say you want to leave," he said, only half joking.

 Kravitz looked surprised, then smiled. "I keep forgetting other people can't hear that." He paused. "I'd like to finish this discussion. Soon. May I see your Stone of Farspeech?"

 Taako summoned it from just inside the door to the dorm, where he'd left it, and handed it to Kravitz, who took out his own Stone. He attuned them the way Taako had seen Garfield and Lucretia do with his and the guys'. "I'll be in touch."

 "I'll be here. Or, you know, somewhere," Taako said, and Kravitz handed him back the Stone. His now free hand stretched out and his scythe appeared in it.

 "Hey! You said you didn't have the scythe!" Taako squawked.

 Kravitz shrugged, looking sheepish. "I mean, it's always  _around_."

 "Whatever you say, death boy."

 Kravitz ducked his head slightly, a small smile just about visible on his face. "Talk to you soon, Taako."

 "Sure, my dude." Before he'd finished the sentence, Kravitz had cut into the fabric of reality. In a moment, he stepped through and was gone.

 Taako waited for a second, in case anything else was going to happen. But... it seemed like that was it. One second this absurdly handsome guy who okay can sometimes turn into a skeleton was sitting on his bed, touching his hand (and then saying he'd call him—usually _his_ line, but whatever), and then the next, nothing. Just his room. Which was fine, good even, a real step up from their previous digs with Pringles. But it seemed overly quiet now.

 He picked up his Stone, thinking of calling Kravitz just to say something hilarious (he was sure he'd think of something in the moment) but shook his head and dropped it back on the bed. What was he doing? Dude left thirty seconds ago and he turned into a fuckin' war widow. That wasn't him.

 _Maybe it is, though_ , said something inside his head. _Maybe you're secretly a giant sap and you've just never found someone to bring it out of you until now, and now you're destined to turn into a giant puddle of goo whenever you see him, loser._

 "That's enough out of you," he said out loud to no one. The sound of his own voice startled him. Right, it was a nice dorm but, like, still had proximity issues— it was a _dorm_. It was probably really lucky that neither Magnus nor Merle had overheard his conversation with Kravitz; it had gone on for a while.

 _And I was just going to seduce that poor bastard here? Now?_ It would have worked, though, if he'd really committed to it. This was just... feeling things out. Without feeling, so to speak. Maybe he'd give it a proper shot next time. _Yeah, probably. Guy's hot. And his voice is... real nice._ Taako had actually enjoyed listening to him enumerate his theories on the no reaper situation. How eager he'd been to discuss his ideas, how thoroughly he'd considered the possibilities, even how competent he'd sounded, even if his competence had almost gotten Taako and the guys killed back in the lab. Honestly, though, he could have been talking about anything. _Damn, that voice..._

 He laid back in bed, absently toying with his hair, remembering how verbose Kravitz had been until he'd noticed how close Taako was, how quiet and careful he'd been after that. And nervous, the way he kept looking at him and then not looking at him. _Would've worked_ , he thought smugly. But there would be time for that later, presumably. Time and time and time…

 A pang of guilt struck him as he remembered his vision of Glamour Springs, the frozen figure of Sazed with the arsenic; his own past self, caught in the last really carefree moment of his long life, and not even aware of it. Every single one of those forty people looking up at him with adoration and trust, stretching their hands out for the last bite of food they’d ever eat.

 He remembered being annoyed that morning as he and Sazed set up, remarking to him that they had to stop playing these backwater one-horse towns, that this wasn’t building his following the way he’d like. He remembered Sazed _agreeing_ with him, saying that Taako _deserved_ a bigger audience that day. For the first time, Taako knew what he’d really meant by that.

 His stomach turned over and his eyes stung, and he covered them again with one hand. The one Kravitz had touched. He imagined it was still cool from his fingers. _Sap._

 He shook his head, which felt too heavy now to hold up. Not that he had to. Nor did he have to deal with the past or any monumental revelations right this second. Taako sunk into the bed, losing consciousness as he had so many times in the past several hours, but this time he was reasonably certain that the next time he opened his eyes, it would be a new day.


End file.
